Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are extending the comment period for our notice of petition and request for comments concerning the definition of Class ``B'' licensee in the Animal Welfare Act regulations. This action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with regulations for the importation of bees and related articles.

We are advising the public that an environmental assessment has been prepared by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service relative to the release of three insect parasitoid species for the biological control of the emerald ash borer Agrilus planipennis. The environmental assessment documents our review and analysis of environmental impacts associated with the release of these biological control agents. We are making this environmental assessment available to the public for review and comment.

We are amending the Mexican fruit fly regulations by adding a portion of Webb County, TX, to the existing quarantined area and restricting the interstate movement of regulated articles from that area; and by amending the definitions for core area and day degrees. These actions are necessary to prevent the artificial spread of the Mexican fruit fly into noninfested areas of the United States and to update the regulations to reflect current science and practices.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with the importation of animals and poultry, animal and poultry products, and animal germplasm.

We are proposing to establish a voluntary Trichinae Certification Program for U.S. pork that has been produced under disease-prevention conditions. Under the proposed program, we would certify pork production sites that follow prescribed good production practices that reduce, eliminate, or avoid the risk of exposure of animals to the zoonotic parasite Trichinella spiralis, a disease of swine. Such a program should enhance the ability of producers to export pork and pork products to overseas markets. This proposed program, which would be funded by program fees, has been developed as a cooperative effort by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Pork Board, and the pork processing industry. If adopted, this program would include those producers who choose to participate in the program, as well as slaughter facilities and other persons that handle or process swine from pork production sites that have been certified under the program.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection activity to support the National Animal Health Monitoring System's national Small Enterprise Chicken Study.

We are advising the public that we have prepared a proposed decision/finding of no significant impact relative to oral rabies vaccination programs in several States. Since the publication of our original environmental assessment and decision/finding of no significant impact in 2001, we have prepared, and made available to the public for comment, several supplemental environmental assessments and decisions/findings of no significant impact in order to reflect changes in the program. The decision/finding of no significant impact made available by this notice clarifies the term ``contingency actions,'' which was used in a supplemental environmental assessment we prepared in 2004, and analyzes a type of contingency action called trap- vaccinate-release that was not analyzed as part of the proposed action in the 2004 supplemental environmental assessment. The new decision/ finding of no significant impact is intended to facilitate planning and interagency coordination in the event of rabies outbreaks and to clearly communicate to the public the actions involved in the oral rabies vaccination program.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with regulations for the payment of indemnity for the domestic pseudorabies accelerated eradication program.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with regulations for the interstate movement of horses that have tested positive for equine infectious anemia.

We are amending the Virus-Serum-Toxin Act regulations to specify the actions to be taken by veterinary biologics licensees and permittees upon receipt of notice from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to stop the preparation, distribution, sale, barter, exchange, shipment, or importation of any worthless, contaminated, dangerous, harmful, or unsatisfactory veterinary biological product. After receiving notice from APHIS, licensees and permittees must notify each wholesaler, dealer, jobber, consignee, or other recipient known to have any such product in their possession to stop the preparation, distribution, sale, barter, exchange, shipment, or importation of such product. In addition, licensees and permittees must provide a complete accounting of the remaining inventory of affected serials or subserials of such product in the current possession of known wholesalers, dealers, jobbers, consignees, or other known recipients and provide written documentation concerning the required notification(s) as directed by the Administrator of APHIS. These changes are necessary in order to clarify the regulations, provide for the most expeditious means of disseminating stop distribution and sale notices, and to mitigate the risk that any worthless, contaminated, dangerous, harmful, or unsatisfactory veterinary biological product may cause harm to animals, the public health, or to the environment.

We are amending the cut flowers regulations to establish specific requirements for the importation of cut flowers that are hosts of chrysanthemum white rust (CWR) from countries where the disease is known to occur. We are also amending the nursery stock regulations to update lists of countries where CWR is known to occur. We are making these changes in order to make our cut flowers and nursery stock regulations consistent. This action is necessary because of numerous recent findings of CWR on cut flowers from Europe that pose a risk of introducing CWR in the United States.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with regulations for the importation of artificially dwarfed plants.

This notice describes the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS) policy for responding to low-levels of regulated genetically engineered plant materials which may occur in commercial seeds or grain. This notice is intended to provide clarification for the public and developers of genetically engineered plants on APHIS' response to such situations. The policy statement does not confer any rights upon or create any rights for any person and does not operate to bind APHIS or the public, nor does it address how other Federal agencies might respond to such situations.

We are advising the public that we have prepared an environmental assessment for a proposed field release involving a transgenic tobacco line that has been genetically engineered to produce an antimicrobial antibody that binds to a bacterium (Streptococcus mutans) associated with tooth decay in humans. The purpose of this field release is to generate plant biomass from which the antibody will be extracted after harvest. The environmental assessment is available to the public for review and comment.

We are advising the public of our determination that a corn line developed by Syngenta, designated as transformation event MIR604, which has been genetically engineered for resistance to corn rootworm, is no longer considered a regulated article under our regulations governing the introduction of certain genetically engineered organisms. Our determination is based on our evaluation of data submitted by Syngenta Seeds, Inc., in their petition for a determination of nonregulated status, our analysis of other scientific data, and comments received from the public in response to a previous notice announcing the availability of the petition for nonregulated status and an environmental assessment. This notice also announces the availability of our written determination and our finding of no significant impact.

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the brucellosis regulations concerning the interstate movement of cattle by changing the classification of Wyoming from Class A to Class Free. We have determined that Wyoming meets the standards for Class Free status. This action relieves certain restrictions on the interstate movement of cattle from Wyoming.

This notice lists the newspapers that will normally be used by the Wildlife Services program of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to publish legal notices in accordance with the Agency's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing procedures, including notices announcing the availability, for public comment, of documents regarding environmental assessments, environmental impact statements, and subsequent final decisions. We are also providing the address of an Internet Web site address where those notices will also be posted. We are publishing this notice to inform interested members of the public which newspapers Wildlife Services will most likely use to publish legal notices in connection with its NEPA-related activities, which we believe will enhance the public's opportunity to read and comment on our NEPA documents and decisions by providing clear, timely, and consistent notice of their availability.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection related to the export of animals and animal products from the United States.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with regulations for a voluntary control program for the H5/H7 subtypes of low pathogenic avian influenza in poultry and the payment of indemnity for costs associated with eradication of the disease.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to initiate a new information collection activity for collection of species data by State as part of the National Animal Identification System.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to initiate a new information collection for Plant Protection and Quarantine Customer Satisfaction Surveys.

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the Karnal bunt regulations to remove certain areas or fields in Maricopa and Pinal Counties, AZ, and Archer, Baylor, Knox, McCulloch, San Saba, Throckmorton, and Young Counties, TX, from the list of regulated areas based on our determination that those fields or areas meet our criteria for release from regulation. The interim rule was necessary to relieve restrictions that are no longer necessary.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has prepared an environmental assessment for confined field plantings of rice plants genetically engineered to express the human proteins lactoferrin, lysozyme, or serum albumin. This environmental assessment is available for public review and comment.

We are amending the Phytophthora ramorum regulations to establish restrictions on the interstate movement of nursery stock from nurseries in nonquarantined areas in California, Oregon, and Washington. We are also amending the regulations to update conditions for the movement of regulated articles of nursery stock from quarantined areas, to add restrictions on the movement of decorative trees without roots from quarantined areas, as well as to restrict the interstate movement of all other nursery stock from nurseries in quarantined areas. We are also updating the list of plants regulated because of P. ramorum and the list of areas that are quarantined for P. ramorum, and making other miscellaneous amendments to the regulations. These actions are necessary to prevent the spread of P. ramorum to noninfested areas of the United States.